The present disclosure generally relates to power supply systems, and more particularly, to power supply systems and methods to provide power to one or more dispensers.
Battery powered paper dispensers incorporating waste minimizing technology have become popular for minimizing waste, while improving sanitation and convenience of use. For battery powered paper dispensers, periodic battery replacement often becomes a nuisance. Indeed, monitoring power levels within batteries in use as well as replacing spent batteries can require important employee time that may be spent on other important job-related tasks.
FIG. 1 illustrates a paper dispenser with a conventional battery pack BP, including batteries 58, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,592,067. Batteries 58 within battery pack BP can be changed during a maintenance procedure. This procedure typically includes opening a dispenser housing to access and remove batteries (58) with battery pack BP for replacement or testing.
Battery testing is generally utilized to determine when batteries are nearing end of life (EOL). Sometimes, batteries within battery pack BP are replaced prior to EOL during a scheduled battery replacement. While replacing batteries nearing EOL may be efficient, this procedure can lead to replacing batteries having remaining power amounts thereby potentially wasting good batteries, increasing battery costs, and increasing battery waste. In a similar vein, replacing batteries that are spent typically occurs after batteries have been drained for some time thereby causing a dispenser to be inoperable for some amount of time.
For an array of dispensers within a location, for example, one or more restrooms, dispensers seeing more frequent use relative to others require more frequent battery replacement. It is typically a nuisance to keep battery replacement records, particularly in multi-dispenser environments. In addition, battery acquisition costs and disposal concerns, and the requirement of additional labor costs are significant limitations of current battery powered paper dispensers.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved power systems for dispensers to resolve the above-discussed and other difficulties and limitations.